


Dandelion

by oxygenial



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Far Future, M/M, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, baby sokai exists and riku THINKS he's the fun uncle but actually he's just another dad, he just doesn't realize it yet, like... WAAAAAAY after the events of kh3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:29:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27498736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oxygenial/pseuds/oxygenial
Summary: Home had brown hair, blue eyes, and a thousand-watt smile.Home was also fiery and stubborn, but soft in every way that mattered.Now, home is also six years old and asleep on his couch.
Relationships: Kairi & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	Dandelion

He does not wake to his 7:30 alarm. He doesn’t wake to birds chirping outside their window, or Kairi curled lovingly into his back, willing him to stay in bed; instead, he wakes to little fingers on his wrist and a small, excited voice in his ear.

“Papa,” she whispers, “are you awake?”

Sora blinks his eyes open, slowly adjusting to the early morning light. There’s a little shadow next to their bed, with bright blue eyes and soft, chubby cheeks. She’s resting her head on the edge of their mattress, and he thinks she must be on her tip-toes to do that. “I am now,” he replies, smiling at the shadow. “Why?”

She grins, squeezing her little fingers around his wrist. “I want strawberries.”

“You want strawberries,” he repeats, turning into his pillow. “Haru, it’s very early for strawberries…” A yawn escapes his lungs. “What do you say?”

Haru presses her cheek against his, trying her best to contain a thousand little giggles, and whispers a very drawn out, “Pleeeeaaaaaase?” into his ear. She bats her eyelashes a few times for good measure, and Sora can’t find the willpower to say no.

“Will you please get them out of the fridge? I’ll wash and cut them for you,” he whispers, and Haru does a celebratory dance at this. Sora chuckles as she gleefully skips out of the bedroom, leaving the door open behind her. He yawns again and stretches in bed, curling his toes against the sheets before rolling out of Kairi’s arms. She mumbles some complaints but falls content when he presses a gentle kiss to her forehead.

"Your daughter wants strawberries," he says to her, and Kairi snorts. Her eyes don't even waver open.

"You mean your daughter," she corrects, a smirk pulling at her lips. She wraps her arms around her pillow instead of her partner and snuggles deeper into it, looking quite smug for a woman half asleep. "'Is my day off."

Sora chuckles again, stepping away to put on a shirt and some joggers. "It is," he agrees, and Kairi hums in satisfaction.

"Jus' come back when you're done," she mumbles, and Sora is reminded of just how lucky he is to have her. He whispers a silly "yes ma'am" and leaves the door open behind him on his way to the kitchen. When he arrives, Haru might as well be inside the fridge, having forgotten where fresh fruit is kept. She huffs in frustration but continues searching through the contents, determined to do her part in making breakfast.

“They live in the bottom, baby, remember?” Sora says, and Haru lights up immediately. He smiles as he watches her back up a few tiny steps and crouch at the crisper drawer, pulling it open and triumphantly showing off her treasure. “I got ‘em,” she whisper-yells, absolutely beaming. “Will you make ‘em?”

“Hmmm,” Sora ponders aloud, grinning widely at how adorable she is, “I dunno. I think you forgot the magic word again.” Haru giggles and stumbles toward him, tugging at the hem of his shirt with one hand and offering him the strawberries with the other.

“Pleeeeeeaaaaaase?”

Sora nods, accepting the berries from his daughter. Haru dances around the kitchen while he washes and cuts them, a moment later asking very politely to have a glass of milk, too. He obliges, and once she’s sat down with her morning snack, he sets up to prepare some coffee for himself and Kairi.

“How does Baaba say ‘please’?” she asks, red smushed at the corners of her mouth. It tickles Sora pink whenever she asks about his first language. He and Kairi have been trying to teach her more Islander vocabulary, but Sora isn’t as fluent as he used to be and they don’t visit his mother as often, living away from the Islands. 

“Baaba says ‘kudasai’,” he instructs, setting a filter in the coffee machine and loading it up with grounds. “So now, she’d say, mm… ‘ichigo o kudasai’. That means, ‘please give me some strawberries.’”

Haru takes another bite, turning around in her seat to face her dad. “No one else says that,” she observes, “just you and Baaba.” 

“Can you say it?” Sora prompts, pressing the start button on the coffee machine. Haru scrunches her nose up and shakes her head. “I already have mine,” she says, holding up a strawberry. Sora walks over to her and pats the top of her head, crouching down beside her.

“Then can you say ‘thank you’?” he asks, smiling softly. “I know I taught you that one, and you definitely haven’t said it.” Sora pinches one of her cheeks and she falls into another small fit of giggles before proudly exclaiming a very messy ‘arigatou.’ Sora wraps an arm around her and they stay like that for a few minutes, Haru occasionally holding a berry up to his open mouth for him to enjoy, too. The coffee drips lazily behind them both and they watch as sunlight begins to stream steadily through the dining room curtains. Sora thinks he can hear that 7:30 alarm go off in the bedroom, but he doesn’t pay it much mind.

When the coffee finishes brewing, Sora pulls two travel mugs down from the cupboard and pours himself and Kairi some much-needed caffeine. Haru gets the sugar for her Mama’s brew, and Sora adds a splash of milk to his own. He tightens the lid on Kairi’s mug and hands it to Haru, who immediately takes off for the bedroom. She cries ‘good morning, Mama!!!’ as she runs down the hallway and as sleepy as she was a half hour ago, Kairi explodes into laughter.

When Sora makes his way to the bedroom, Haru is curled up in her mother’s cross-legged lap, both of them tucked under the covers. Kairi takes a sip of her coffee and hums.

“Do you like it?” Haru asks, poking her mother’s cheek.

“Very much so,” Kairi replies, pressing a kiss to her crown. She starts to run her fingers through her daughter’s hair then, attempting to comb out some of the bedhead. Sora climbs under the blanket next to them and laces an arm around Kairi’s waist, pulling the three of them closer together. He pecks her on the cheek and whispers ‘good morning’ softly into her ear, to which Kairi leans her head into his.

"You two were up early," she says, and Haru beams.

"I had strawberries."

“And it’s your day off,” Sora adds, nudging her. Kairi sips at her coffee and yawns, grinning. “You bet it is,” she agrees, continuing to detangle Haru’s hair. It’s just as thick as Sora’s, she notes, and tends to stand on end like his does, too. She sets down her coffee and begins to braid, knowing well that when Haru gets up to get dressed it’ll all fall apart anyway.

Haru leans into the touch and smiles, then looks up at Sora. “Can we go see Riku today, Papa? I miss him!” She twirls her fingers together, kind of like Naminé does from time to time, and blinks up at him endearingly. “Koodiesee,” she struggles out, and Sora only feels a little bad for laughing.

“Kudasai,” he corrects through chuckles, “and yeah, we can.”

"What am I gonna do all day while you two are gone?" Kairi asks her, undoing the first braid and starting on a second. Haru genuinely ponders this for a moment. "You can go see Lea," she says, "and pretend-fight? Or you can paint. Painting is fun."

"I'm not very good at painting," Kairi counters, "you're a much better artist than I am. I am very good at fighting Lea though, yeah?"

"I think he learned that lesson the last day you had off," Sora adds, and the two girls start to giggle.

The three of them stay cuddled together for another thirty minutes or so, Kairi holding onto their precious daughter and Sora holding onto them both. Haru talks their ears off the whole time, but neither of them mind it; it's very easy to smile, nod, and urge her on. Much like Sora when he was that age, she can carry an entire conversation pretty much by herself.

There's so much light in her, they think. She beams and glows and emits it every time she opens her eyes. Kairi wonders if she's inherited the title of Princess. She reminds her of the children in the stores her own grandmother used to tell, of little dandelions filled with joy and kindness. She asked Sora once when Haru was only a year old, but it's far too soon to know certainly. Maybe she'll become an absolute hellion when she turns twelve.

Kairi doubts that, watching as she reaches out to Sora just to hold his hand, but only time will tell.

"Can we go see Riku now?" she asks, and Sora yawns one last time before untangling himself from the cuddle pile. "Race you to get dressed," he says, and Haru excitedly crawls out of Kairi's lap and dashes into her bedroom. She only tripped once.

"I love that kid so fucking much," Sora says, and Kairi snorts.

"Bet I love her more," she challenges, rising to her knees on the edge of the bed. Sora gets a rather incredulous look on his face then, moving to wrap his arms around her lower back. "I seriously doubt that," he insists, "I really, really love that kid. Maybe more than I love you, and that's next to impossible."

Kairi slips her mug-warmed hands under his tee shirt, and that never fails to light his nerves up. She tilts her head up to place a kiss on his jaw before pulling him into a hug, resting her head against his chest. "Thank you for the coffee," she whispers, and Sora knows she's not just thankful for the brew.

"You're welcome," he replies, and Kairi knows he'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

A sharp knock on their door frame pulls the two apart. "Papa, you're not dressed! I win!" she exclaims, dancing amusedly in the hall. Sora rolls his eyes and grins, telling her he'll be ready in just a moment and that she gets a special treat for winning their race. Haru's eyes go wide and Kairi shoots her a wink.

"Your Papa is such a lazy bum, isn't he?" she teases, and Haru falls into a fit of giggles, chanting 'lazy bum, lazy bum' over and over from the hallway. Kairi tickles his sides and Sora wiggles away toward the dresser, calling out to his daughter for mercy.

"Haru, will you please help me pick out my clothes? I'm too lazy to do it myself."

Kairi wonders if she should call Riku to let him know the two tornados are coming for a visit at 8:30 in the morning. Probably. Most definitely, she decides, when Haru starts tickling Sora so aggressively that he pretends to collapse from the attack. He won't mind the visit, though; if anyone loves Haru as much as her parents, it's Riku.

Ten minutes later, when Sora’s finally tying his shoes and helping Haru tie her’s as well, he wonders, “Do you think I should bring him coffee? It’s kinda early for him, especially on a Saturday.”

Kairi nods, pulling her hair up to wash her face. “Breakfast might do you good, too.”

“What do you say we stop and get Riku some food on the way, Haru?” Sora asks, and Haru nods confidently. “I’ll get your treat there too, but you can’t have it until lunchtime, okay?”

She nods even more confidently at this.

Riku’s already awake when the pair arrive. Kairi was right to give him a heads-up, because he looks a little grumpy when he first answers the door, but his face instantly softens when Haru shoves a blueberry muffin in his hands and greets him with her own version of the thousand-watt smile.

“Aww, Ru, you shouldn’t have,” he says, taking the pastry from her and ruffling her half-braided hair. “That was really nice.”

“It was Mama’s idea,” she says, making grabby-hands up at Riku. He picks her up with ease and swings her over his shoulder, smirking at the surge of laughter he earned in response. Sora winks, and Riku brings them both inside. Sora removes his shoes and Haru kicks her’s off too, watching them bounce around like rubber balls in Riku’s entryway.

“I brought you coffee, too,” Sora offers, swirling it around to make the ice clunk against the cup. “Fancy and full of sugar, just how you like it. They ran out of whipped cream, though.” There’s a teasing edge in his voice and Riku rolls his eyes as he takes the drink, relishing the first taste. He settles Haru down on his hip and offers her a sip, to which Sora’s eyes bulge out of his skull, and the evil grin on his daughter’s face right then is only a little humbling.

“You win.”

“I know.”

Haru wraps her little arms around Riku’s neck and presses a fat kiss onto his cheek, to which Riku sets down his coffee and blows a raspberry onto her neck. “You brought my favorite person ever over,” he says in between attacks, “so I’ll forgive you.” They both adore the sound of her laughter.

A little part of him wondered when this peace would all fall apart. Riku hated thinking that way, but he couldn’t ever completely banish the idea that one day, Radiant Garden would be swallowed up in darkness and they’d all be scattered to the stars. The thought of losing the three most important people in his life— the image of little Haru waking up in Traverse Town, alone and afraid with Heartless at her heels— it kept him up some nights.

He wonders if Haru can feel his heart the same way her parents can, even if she doesn’t know it. Once, when she wasn’t even a year old, he kept her overnight so Sora and Kairi could get some decent rest. She fell asleep with relative ease, but Riku couldn’t shake that cold, tight feeling from his chest. He must have gotten up to check on her at least twelve times that night. Each time he adjusted her blanket and tucked her hair away, a calming warmth stretched up from his fingers. To this day there’s no way for her to know what nightmares sometimes plague him, but she soothes them away without even trying.

Must be hereditary.

“So, what do you wanna do today, Ru?” Riku asks, setting her down and taking a place at the table. That muffin was starting to look awfully appetizing. Sora sat next to him and rubbed his eyes, occasionally sneaking a blueberry from Riku’s plate. It earned him a swat each time, but he wasn’t deterred.

Haru considers it for a minute, tapping her index finger to her chin in an almost comical way. “We should… play a game,” she starts, and both of the boys urged her on. Another moment passes and she eventually asks, “Hide and go seek?”

“I like that game,” Sora says, but Riku shakes his head. “I’m too big for hide and go seek,” he counters, to which Haru giggles. “I can’t fit behind any of my furniture.”

“You should be ‘it’ then,” Sora offers, but Riku shakes his head again.

Haru resumes tapping her finger to her chin. “Then we should play… tag!”

Riku finishes his breakfast and takes another sip of his coffee, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. “I like that game,” he says, and Sora agrees. Haru claps her hands together and taps Riku on the leg before taking off down the hallway, yelling an exuberant “you’re it!” while she goes. Riku throws his hands in the air, trying to act upset, but it doesn’t work. There’s a grin working its way from his mouth to his eyes.

“When did we start playing!?”

“NOW, RIKU!”

Sora chuckles, meets his eyes for just a moment, and makes a beeline to the living room.

Guess he’s ‘it’ after all.

They play tag for all of five minutes before Haru decides that she’s had enough of that game, possibly because Riku doesn’t know how to lose even to a six-year-old. Sora pretends to fall down so she can tag him just once because he, too, has difficulty losing to a six-year-old. Competitive streaks run deep, after all.

They cycle through a few other of Haru’s favorite games, and it’s around ten o’clock by the time they settle down from play and sink into Riku’s couch. Haru asks if they can watch the cartoons Riku absolutely has recorded for her, and impresses them both with a much more accurate ‘kudasai’. Sora pulls her under his arm and kisses her forehead while Riku flicks on the television.

She’s asleep within minutes.

They set her up with a pillow and a blanket so Sora can slink out from under her weight, and fortunately the shift doesn’t wake her. The boys step onto the balcony then, fresh air tossing Riku’s hair back and making Sora’s stand up further.

His apartment overlooks most of the Bailey and Marketplace, and it has a decent view of the Castle as well. He’s taken to growing some vegetables and herbs outside, in a small container garden hanging over the rail; Sora makes it a habit to steal fresh green onion and thyme whenever they visit.

“Do you miss home?” Sora asks, and Riku shrugs his shoulders.

“You guys are my home,” he replies plainly.

They’ve all lived in Radiant Garden since Sora began working for the Restoration Committee. Once Kairi passed her Mark of Mastery, Yen Sid gave her and Riku the opportunity to take on apprentices. A few months passed and they both found promise in two youths from Radiant Garden. Sora couldn’t see himself carrying on the Master’s Tradition, though, and accompanied his friends simply for support.

They hopped back and forth from the Islands to Radiant Garden, going about their duties and tending to their desires. A couple years later, when Yuffie and Leon offered him a permanent position managing the city's defenses, Sora nearly accepted it on the spot. Kairi loved the idea of moving back to her homeworld, of getting to enjoy all the things she'd forgotten about her childhood, so they bought their first house with leftover earnings from previous adventures. Haru came along a while after that.

Riku stayed on the Islands for a few months after Sora and Kairi moved. He didn’t mind the travel, and after spending so much of his youth resenting this tiny paradise, he wanted to drink up as much of it as he could. After a while, though, he remembered that home wasn’t actually a place.

Home had brown hair, blue eyes, and a thousand-watt smile.

Home was also fiery and stubborn, but soft in every way that mattered.

Now, home is also six years old and asleep on his couch.

“You know I love you too, right?” Sora asks eventually, out of the blue, and the question startles Riku at first. He goes on, though, like these are words he’s wanted to say since the very beginning. “I love you. Kairi knows, too— that I could never pick one of you over the other. She feels the same way.”

Riku huffs, considering dodging the question entirely. He can feel the tops of his ears turning red, though, and he’s certain it's plainly obvious to Sora. “Of course you guys care about me. We’re best friends,” he settles, but Sora shakes his head.

“Not what I mean,” he says with a chuckle, “at all. It took me a long time to figure it out, Riku, and Kairi may have had to beat it out of me more than once, but I love you. We love you. We want you to be a part of this,” he finishes, motioning back to Haru.

Riku blinks once, twice, three times before he allows himself to grin. “Damn, twenty-eight and finally mustering up a confession. You’re lucky I waited for you.”

Sora rolls his eyes and beats him on the shoulder before reaching down to hold his hand. “I am sorry it took me so long,” he offers earnestly. “I don’t know what I was so afraid of, but fear doesn’t matter as long as we’re all together.”

Riku strokes his thumb over Sora’s hand, and this time it feels a little different. They’ve been affectionate before— they’ve been intimate before, all three of them— but now there’s a weight lifted from his shoulders that he didn’t know existed.

“Thank you for waiting,” Sora says, and Riku presses a little kiss to his hand.

“For you both, anything.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this SO LONG AGO and its just been chillin' in my google drive since then... have some warm fuzzies


End file.
